Biography: Sarah Angliss
Relaxing in the semi-anechoic chamber at the National Physical Laboratory
Sarah Angliss
Trained in electroacoustics (BEng(hons) 1989), music (ARCM(Perf) 1996) and a little evolutionary robotics (MSc 2005), I specialise in creating original sound installations, exhibits and live performances that mix cutting-edge technology with curious or vintage sound equipment and little known stories from the history of science. I’m particularly interested in creating sonic art that enables people to generate or manipulate sound using novel physical elements (e.g. robots; motion sensors). Whenever possible, I try to avoid compositions that generate music entirely through software - I find algorithmic music is richer and more delightful when it’s coupled to the real world in some meaningful way.
Duetting with robot thereminist Clara 2.0
An experienced creator of one-off installations and exhibits, I’m also a live performer, particularly known for my skills on the theremin and musical saw. I’m a regular on the London and Brighton circuits, where I can often be seen performing with my robotic bells and Clara 2.0, the ‘polite robot thereminist’. I created these devices as more theatrical alternatives to the loop pedal. Regularly featured in the national press, my solo and collaborative work exploring infrasonic music, Category 4 diseases, cyborgs, extreme reverb, the uncanny valley, genetic privacy, evolutionary music, dogs in space, hurdy gurdies, Swinging London and a host of other topics has been seen and heard at venues throughout the UK. The Reverb Jam (2007) and Infrasonic (aka Soundless Music, 2002) are two projects that continue to attract regular enquiries from journalists, scientists, musicians and others.
My work has been seen at the Brighton Festival Fringe, Coin Street, Gasworks Gallery (Vauxhall), Cheltenham Music and Science Festivals, Final Cut, the Eden Project, Edinburgh International Science Festival, London Zoo, Placard Headphone Festival, The Roundhouse, South Bank Centre, Science Museum, Soho Theatre, Southwold Pier, Quake Dance Festival, Winchester Festival of Art and Mind and many other venues. Alongside my solo projects, I regularly collaborate with other engineers and artists. Recent collaborators include the National Physical Laboratory, Punchdrunk Theatre Company, psychologist Prof Richard Wiseman, dancer Caroline Radcliffe and sculptor and automatist Tim Hunkin among others.
I’ve won a number of awards, include NESTA Dreamtime funding and public engagement grants from the Wellcome Trust. In 2007, my AV installation Repeat Repeat, in collaboration with performer Caroline Radcliffe, won a Quake Dance Festival Award. My collaborative performances in the Festival Fringe have twice been nominated as ’stand-out’ shows of the Brighton Festival.
waterphone
Read a more detailed work history.